Architectural coatings formulators generally utilize discrete coalescing aid and surfactant additives to deliver good performance in common water-based latex paint formulations. Alkyl phenol ethoxylate (APE) has been a primary nonionic surfactant used for many years in latex paint formulation. However, there are environmental and health concerns relating to the use of APE in paint formulations. Various ethoxylated alcohols are possible replacements for traditional APE surfactant technology, however these discrete additives add to the cost of the formulation and increase the complexity and difficulty of adjusting paint formulations. Some of these discrete additives may partially provide both coalescing aid and surfactant functionality, but do not deliver adequate performance in common formulations to allow total replacement of two or more additives with a single additive. Thus there is a need for a single additive for architectural coatings formulation that provides both coalescing aid and surfactant performance.
The additive of the present invention addresses the needs of architectural coatings formulators who seek to simplify complex formulations and reduce manufacturing costs while maintaining paint performance. The present invention addresses this need as well as others, which will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims.